Dark Chocolate & Jager Cupcakes

  So last year we were seeing left & right posts, recipes & blogs on Boozie Cakes. We decided to jump on the bandwagon. So after a short discussion on what to use- we decided, there's Jager in the freezer that needs to be used. Why Not?

The cupcakes had a really good flavor. I myself am not one for black licorice flavor, but the dark chocolate seemed to milden the flavor a bit. They were delicious! We didn't add any Jager to the dark chocolate buttercream, but we did get some good n plenty & dipped a few.

   Dark Chocolate & Jager Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup dark chocolate melted
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tsp milk
1/3 cup Jager
1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp


In a bowl whisk flour, baking soda & salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl cream butter & sugars. Add melted chocolate, egg & milk. Then mix in dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Will make 10-12 cupcakes.
Let cool & frost with frosting & garnish with good n plenty.

Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margerine
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
1/2 cup melted dark chocolate

Cream shortening & butter together. Add Vanilla & mix in. Add sugar one cup at a time until incorporated. Frosting will look dry. Add you chocolate in & mix well. Now add milk 1 tbsp at a time until you get the consistancy you want for your frosting.

Homemade Butterfingers

 
                                      Yet another thing that tastes amazing- And is super easy.

                                                               3 INGREDIENTS!!!   That's It!

         I don't know about you but I like peanut butter & I like easy- So why not make these for your next holiday get together, And the best part- You can make them in any shape! I made the normal lil rectangles, but I also made leaves. I also made some heart shaped ones.

I have seen this recipe in numerous places & honestly I can not remember where I originally found the recipe last year. It's been on a scrap piece of paper since, lol.

 
Homemade Butterfingers


3 cups of candy corn
1 cup peanut butter
1 package of Candyquick or Milk Chocolate Bark ( can be found in the baking section)
 * you could obviously use real chocolate ( milk or dark) but it will melt quickly , also you could use candy melts in any color

* Start by lining an 8x8 or 9x13 (depending on how thick you want it) with parchment or foil, grease well.
* Next put the candy corn in a microwave safe bowl, you need you candy corn melted. Start with 1 minute; then stir. Microwave in 15-20 second increments until melted.
* Add peanut butter & stir well.
*Pour into prepared pan & let cool for at least an hour to harden
*Heat your chocolate according to directions.
* Cut your peanut butter slab into squares, rectangles or use cookie cutters.
*Dip each piece into chocolste & lay on parchment or wax paer lined tray. Once tray is full pop in fridge for a few to set.
*****ENJOY*****
Flavor wise they taste just the same as Butterfingers, the texture is softer though. I think they are much more enjoyable to eat that way- less stuff stuck in yout teeth

Candy Corn

There are certain things that you just wait for every year. Sometimes it's the cooler weather , sometimes it's a fast food favorite- But the one thing most people can not wait for is Candy Corn.

I found a great recipe last year to make homemade Candy Corn. I must admit that the thought of making my own candy scared the heck outta me. It scares alot of people. It's one of those things that for whatever reason is ingrained in women- making candy is difficult & you will screw it up. Yup , I heard that voice many times while I made my own Candy Corn.  But I realized that it is extremely easy & I've done it numerous times since.


You only need a few things.....Some light corn syrup, sugar, butter, confectioners sugar, powdered milk, vanilla & food coloring. You'll also need a good pot & time to play with your dough like playdoh :)

See I told you just like Playdoh......you can pretty much mold this stuff into whatever you like & it tastes just like store bought candy corn

Here are the ropes :)

As I said you can make them in almost any color that you want. These purple/orange ones were a set that I tried something different. I used dark corn syrup instead of light. They had an amazing caramel taste rather than the normal vanilla. The dough is darker which is why I chose purple & orange. But they were very good.


Here is the Original Recipe that I got from **Cakespy via Serious Eats**

Candy Corn
 

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup salted butter

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/3 cup powdered milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Food coloring of choice

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, combine the sifted confectioners' sugar and powdered milk. Set to the side.

In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce heat to medium and continue stirring for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the vanilla extract and remove from heat.

Add the confectioners' sugar and powdered milk mixture to the wet ingredients; stir well until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and smooth.

Let the dough cool until it is firm enough to handle, about 30 minutes to an hour (I just let it cool in the saucepan).

Divide the dough into three equal parts and set each third into a separate bowl. Add 2 to 3 drops of yellow food coloring to one dish, one drop of red and two drops of yellow to another dish, and leave the remaining dish uncolored. Knead the dough to which you have added food coloring until the color is even (you may want to use gloves to ensure that you don't stain yourself). If the dough is feeling very soft or sticky, you may want to chill the dough for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator before proceeding with the next steps.* again use colors of your choice

On top of a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper, use your hands to roll each color of dough into a long, slender rope. You can roll it out to your desired thickness: for larger candies, make each rope thicker; for smaller candies, make each rope thinner.

Line the three ropes of dough together: white, orange, and yellow. To ensure that they will stick together, lay a piece of waxed paper on top and give them a very gentle rolling with a rolling pin. You just want to adhere them, not to flatten them

Using a very sharp knife, cut the dough into triangles. Keep a damp cloth nearby so that you can wipe off the knife if it begins to get a candy residue. This method will result in half a batch of traditionally colored candy corn and half a batch with yellow tips (it's OK—they taste the same). Let the finished kernels sit for an hour or two (do not stack them on top of one another as they will stick together!) to become firm

 They look super cute as twisted ropes & wrapped as gifts.  Hope you enjoy the Candy Corn.

The Smells of October

_____________Sopapilla Cheesecake___________________




So running thru recipes last year I came acrossed what looked & sounded truly delicious! The ultimate mixture of cinnamon & cream cheese AND I could not refuse.  And as this extremely quick & easy dessert or breakfast *wink* is baking in the oven the house will smell blissful.

  I know ,I know- I really need some photography classes, I appologize for taking less than wonderful pics. But I promise this is a wonderful dish.

I found the original recipe from My Yellow Umbrella- but I have seen this recipe on numerous Blogs over the last year, I really don't know who to give proper credit to. But here are your directions & do enjoy it any time of day :)

 Sopapilla Cheesecake 


Ingredients:
-2 cans pillsbury butter crescent rolls
-2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
-1 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 cup butter (melted)
-Cinnamon & sugar
Unroll and spread 1 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. 

I myself added ALOT of sugar & cinnamon to the top & was left with a very sweet & crunchy topper
   
* When I made it I used an 8x8, but you can also use a 9x13, you will have to stretch your cresent rolls a bit but it will work. Your cream cheese mix will be thinner too. Also My Yellow Umbrella states that she tried Neufchâtel in place of cream cheese to make it less fat.
* Check out the original post from My Yellow Umbrella for a FAQ section that she has added:


                    *****My Yellow Umbrella- Sopapilla Cheesecake*****


Hope you enjoy!!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispies

 

                                                              Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats


        So here I jump on my blogger after being away from it for months, uummm almost completely forgetting that it existed. Well that I suppose is what happens when you prematurely start a BLOG & have no clue what you are doing. It just realized that we have not posted in over a year. That my friend is SAD!
      


      Well on to my recipe- And honestly this was made last year( again I forgot about the blog  lol).



     Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats, yum! This are very simple to make , just as regular RKT.

    This right here is what you will start with. Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows....they are delish. So much so that I forgot my iced coffee with floating marshmallows was in the shot...oopps. Then of course you need butter, rice krispies, a pan or bowl if you prefer the microwave method, & some type of utensil to mix your concoction, whether it be a wooden spoon or spatula- make sure you butter it. Also a buttered pan or dish to mold & cool your  RKT.

 
  The one at the top was done in an 8 inch cake tin. The one just above was made in a mini pie tin. Both were decorated with royal icing to look more "pie like". These can be given as gifts or eaten yourself- but trust me they are so good & you will eat most of them.
 

       Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats   adapted from Kellogg's Rice Krispies


3 tablespoons of margarine or butter, plus more to coat your dish & utensil
1 package of Jet Puffed Pumpkin Spice Mallows
7 cups Rice Krispies cereal


Start by melting butter or margarine in a large saucepan over low heat.
While your butter is starting to melt coat your spoon or spatula & your dish or cake tin.
When butter is melted add marshmallows & stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
Add rice krispies & stir until well coated.
Using your buttered spatula or spoon, press into your dish or pan.
Wait for a few for then to cool, decorate with royal icing or buttercream to resemble a pie.
Cut into slices & enjoy.
Will make 8-16 slices of "pie"

Microwave directions: Using a large microwave safe bowl, heat butter or margarine& marshmallowson HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes.Stir until smooth. Add marshmallows & coat evenly, put into butter dish or tin & smooth with butter spatula or spoon. Decorate as wanted.

          Hope you enjoy your Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats :)

My Favorite Time Of Year

It's my favorite time of year. I think the the months of October, November & December are by far the best. Who doesn't love Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years!

This year my Grandmother is coming down for Christmas...I am super excited. So excited that it is the middle of September & I already want to go through my Halloween & Christmas decorations. Normally I take Halloween out on October 1st & put everything up. And like clockwork my tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I can wait this year......my tree may be up next week!

So again with the wonderful news of my Grandmother coming......Normally we do all of our Holidays at my Mother's house. She has the space & the huge table. Well this year my Mother & Step-Dad went through some type of mid-life crisis thingy. They got rid of the huge table & chairs. They got rid of the dishes & extra lounging furniture. They replaced everything with a pool table & ping pong table. I honsetly am not complaining. It has been fun this summer to watch the Hubby play pool & the kids play ping pong....but where are we going to have the hoildays???

We have the room at out house- but do not have a table big enough. So this weekend my Hubby took me to IKEA...OMG I love it there!!!! I did not want to leave. Needless to say we were able to compromise on a table & chairs. I will be taking a trip out there next month when we have $$ saved up to get my glorious 10 person table & seating. Plus I think he has a fever cause he said we could paint!!!! See the news of my Grandmother coming is exciting him as well :)

So on to my conclusion.....Sorry we haven't been posting. We have been a lil busy & moving very slow with this biz building thing. Brooke "B" is without a car because hers took a crap. Crystal "C" just got a job...Finally after almost a year of applying. And good ol me ~ Christal "C" is just wishing the days would go by faster...I wanta put up my Halloween stuff!  We are still baking & trying out some new recipes. And we will try not to put so much space in between posts :) Have a great day  ~ Christal

O.M.G.

Hi, I'm Crystal another part of CCB and while I should be introducing myself, I am in a rather funky mood and will do that later. We had a great time baking on Friday and now I'm sorry we didn't do more because there is not enough chocolate in my house to deal with school supply lists (times four). While I can't wait for summer break to end in 15 days =) yes I'm counting (and have been since about 3 weeks after it started, when they started to fight over having to share everything, including the air they breath) the prep is ridiculous. O.M.G. their lists are like 2 pages a piece and my oldest child's list will not even be ready till open house, 4 days before school starts and about a week after all the sales. So I put all the kids in bed and I'm waiting for them to go to bed so I can enjoy the 1 white chocolate brownie that is left without having to share, wish they would hurry up, lol.   Hope everyone else has a great night!